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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Sam Stroozas rounds up local events and Minnesota book news you may have missed.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where host Emily Bright checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. Listen to Ask a Bookseller to find your next favorite book.

Big Books and Bold Ideas

Big Books and Bold Ideas is a weekly series hosted by Kerri Miller and produced by Kelly Gordon every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

Talking Volumes

Talking Volumes is an annual event series featuring notable authors in conversation about their new books. Presented by MPR News and The Minnesota Star Tribune.

'The Power Notebooks' daringly explores contradictions in lives of women

'The Power Notebooks' daringly explores contradictions in lives of women

Katie Roiphe's journal-like entries are a series of brief-but-potent meditations on women, autonomy, independence, and power — on "women strong in public, weak in private" — including herself.
by Heller McAlpin

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Thread Must-Read: 'The Night Watchman' by Louise Erdrich

Two years ago, Louise Erdrich succumbed to a nasty bug and took to her bed for a time. She slept, she daydreamed and she finally rose with a conviction that her next novel could be found in letters that her grandfather, Patrick Gourneau, had written in a particularly tumultuous period of his life.
by Kerri Miller

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'The Mirror & The Light' is a triumphant end to a spellbinding story

'The Mirror & The Light' is a triumphant end to a spellbinding story

In this new novel, Hilary Mantel brings her award-winning trilogy on the life of Tudor politician Thomas Cromwell to an end. And even though readers know how this story will end, it's still gripping.
by Genevieve Valentine

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Former Viking Chris Kluwe attacks online harassment in YA sci-fi novel ‘Otaku’

Former Viking Chris Kluwe attacks online harassment in YA sci-fi novel ‘Otaku’

Chris Kluwe, who retired from the NFL in 2014, combines a lifelong love of science fiction and a concern about equal rights to take on gamers who use the internet to make life miserable for female gamers.
by Euan Kerr

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Louise Erdrich's grandfather inspired her new novel, 'The Night Watchman'

Louise Erdrich's grandfather inspired her new novel, 'The Night Watchman'

Louise Erdrich's new novel, set in the 1950s, follows a Native American tribe fighting for their rights as the U.S. Congress prepares to terminate their nation-to-nation treaties and land ownership rights.
by Scott Simon

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'The Hidden Girl' is smart, but not entirely human

'The Hidden Girl' is smart, but not entirely human

Ken Liu is an acclaimed author, translator and poet who's won multiple awards for his short fiction. But his new collection doesn't come together — some stories are gorgeous, while others fall flat.
by Jason Sheehan

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In 'Minor Feelings,' Asian American racial trauma is laid bare

In 'Minor Feelings,' Asian American racial trauma is laid bare

Cathy Park Hong's essays serve as a major reckoning, pulling no punches as the author uses her life's flashpoints to give voice to a wider Asian American experience, one with cascading consequences.
by Elise Hu

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